Increasing the weight?

nevlaw

Cheers guys, im guna try the lower reps, and see how that goes, i just alwya assumed that the chest was quite a large muscle and needed a lot of work.

Cheers again

crazycal1

add 1 kilo a week and train progressively-then you`ll grow - 3 working sets of bench presses is all i do-when you`ve tried everything thing else-give it a go-i dare any of you-abbreviated training done progressively works!

einsteins mind was the key to all things...to understand more than to know.

www.extremenutrition.co.uk

garrilla

how often do you train chest ?

in my opinion you need to start of heavy and decrease weight each set. if you do 30kg first set for 12 that isnt pushing the muscle at all, you say you do 12 with 60 on the last set, so the first 3 sets are more of a warm up.

muscles grow in response to being asked more than they are capable of so you must train to failiure to really achieve this. dont stick to one set number of reps its pointless muscles cant count. do a warm up set for chest then wait 2 or 3 mins then go in heavy with and keep going until you can no longer lift the weight back up. you should work between 6 and 10 reps so you start off with a weight that allows you to achieve 6 reps at failiure and each time you train aim for 1 more until you get 10 then add more weight to bring you back down to 6 reps again.

then wait a couple of mins drop the weight down and do a second set 6-10 reps same principles as above.

divie

Starting heavy is definatly more intense and worthwile, your muscles will get worked harder and you will know it from the better pump you will get.
In my opinion starting light to heavy is a waste of early sets, i mean if you can lift 60kg on your last set how easy is 30kg going to be on your first sets. Its behond me why people train this way and i think if you start heavy you may find yourself lifting a good 10kg+ more then 60kg as you wont of wasted the energy on countless unesscary what i call warm up sets.
Id say do a couple of light warm ups i only do 1 warm up set but 2 is what most do and then go heavy and reduce down as sets go on as this will coincide with your muscle getting fatigued yet you can still fail on every set if you wish.

PS every body trains differently and i dont want to slag of peoples ways of training as my way of training may seem wrong to others and the light to heavy is a common way of training like most do on this site and in gyms, but i just dont get why as i found it just a waste of time.

Keep it up though m8, give us feedback on how you get on

addy boy

When I do my routine Say bench press, my first set is heavy enough to allow me to do 8 reps just, then i add weight which i might get 6 reps, then more weight and down to 4 reps. Is this ok?

garrilla

guys use different routines and most will work but in my opinion you will get better results if start heavy and driop the weight down each set. muscles grow because you are asking more of them than they are capable so doesnt it make sense that you need to push them to the max to gain the most ?

Comando Tom

Would you reconmend going to positive failiure on each set?

TheDaddy2003

Yes Comando Tom
exactly as Garrila said, thats how i train, although not as specific as what garrila has suggested on another thread.
Which makes complete sense to me so ive now started to train to this format, basically ive trained so long without giving much thought to how i can maximize gains.
That said ive stilled gained over the years and ive been happy with that.

What i read Garrila explain in one thread, is basically do a warm up set then go to your maximum weight that will only allow you to train to failure of about 6/10 reps.

Once this is completed dropped the weight alittle and start again, staying in the 6/10 rep threshhold.

Once you reach 10 from your original set, up the weight untill it only allows you to lift to a maximum of 6 once more.

Repeat the cycle and strength gains should be good.

This is what ive started to do and feel confidient now im more disciplined that gains will be even greater.

To answer addy boy

in my opinion gains are to made in such a way, ive done it many times where i end up going down to 1 rep.

most weeks i test my 1 rep max.

However this being said your chest still needs a good workout so do the suggested method above, then ocassionally 1 week out of 4 go back to your low rep workout.
So long as your gaining doesnt matter what u do, just dont stay stale for to long.

EDIT just noticed the very post im on about belongs to this thread ops: but who goes over old posts eh :P

crazycal1

simply put add a pound a week to upper body exercises and up to 5lb`s on squats and deadlifts-it`s called progressive training---just found this---The reason many of us train is to increase our muscle size. Well, forget that while you read the following. For muscles to grow, they must become stronger. This means you must lift more weight. You must train for strength.

Every time you lift weights and workout, provided the body is subjected to sufficient stimulus, muscle fibres become damaged. These muscle fibres (given ample recovery) repair themselves and adapt so they become fractionally stronger. Enough to cope with that stress in the future.

Once this happens you must add a fraction or almost unnoticeable amount more weight to the bar. Do this again and again and your muscles will constantly be repairing themselves stronger than before to handle more weight.

You can eat more, rest more, weigh more and train harder, but in the long run - if you are still not lifting more and becoming stronger, then you will not grow. This is the law of progression. Progress is human nature, always striving to be better, to improve.

Abbreviated training is almost an "underground" style compared to conventional training. If you do train in the conventional manner and are lacking results, or have been using the same weight for a long time, then consider this: Pick just one compound exercise for each major area of the body ie. back, chest, legs, arms. If all you did were these exercises and you added 1/2 pound every week or two for 1-2 years, imagine how much more weight you would be lifting! Your muscles would have to be bigger for you to be lifting that much more! This is the simplicity of abbreviated training.

Every trainee has their own personal level of strength. You don't only grow if you are lifting massive weights. If you can only squat 125 lbs. then that is your level of strength. By lifting that weight and adding to it slowly your body will still grow. Do not concern yourself with how much someone else is lifting. Your body is your priority. You are who matters most.

Natural and Drug-free trainees who bench with 300 lbs. and squat 400 lbs. didn't just wake up one morning with such incredible strength. It was accumulated pound by pound through years of hard work. It is the same as if you put a dollar bill into the bank every day for a year. It would soon add up to a lot of money! Add a little bit of weight to the bar as often as possible and eventually you will be the one lifting those big weights.

Lastly, if you are NOT lifting in good form then I urge you- do not bother lifting at all. Not only can you seriously injure yourself, but you will be wasting your time. Squatting 150 lbs. in perfect controlled form and a full range of movement will build far more muscle and strength than would squatting 350 lbs. on raised heels, with a rounded back and half the range of movement.


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einsteins mind was the key to all things...to understand more than to know.

www.extremenutrition.co.uk